Hiding anonymously, tucked away within small Appalachian valleys, are some of the South’s tallest structures: power plant chimneys, one reaching over 1200’ and many others at over 1000’. Only Russia and former USSR countries have taller and more tall chimneys than the eastern third of the US, with these massive American chimneys account for 9 out of 10 of the tallest structures in the US South. Designed to place pollutants up in the clouds and away from their valleys, these chimneys instead poisoned people living around them for generations. These days, with seemingly no alternative, the chimneys are being decommissioned and demolished one by one.
